One of the things I love about Android is the way it allows fantastic customization of its user interface, even without root or other major modifications. Take App Swap for example: this handy little app drawer replacement can launch either from a standard shortcut on your launcher (or alternative methods like SwipePad) or it can replace the default Google Now swipe-up-from-the-home-button gesture.

The latest update to this tool adds an even more useful feature: Quick Swipe. This allows users to swipe left or right from the pop-up app drawer to instantly go to the apps of their choice. Essentially it's an even faster way to get to your two most-frequented apps. If you spring for the very reasonable $1.99 in-app purchase upgrade, you can add swipe zones on the top and bottom, allowing three apps to be launched with Quick Swipe actions on either side, for six in total. If you feel like getting really fancy, these zones can also be assigned to opening widgets outside of the launcher. The GIF below, from the developer's Google+ account, shows these six swipe zones in action.

The other neat part of App Swap is the T9 function. Tap the dialer icon beneath the app drawer and you can use your old-school T9 texting skills to quickly search through the apps on the screen - very handy for someone who keeps hundreds of apps on their device. You can also use a standard keyboard for searching if the fancy takes you that way. An impressive amount of customization settings allows users to further tailor the app to their tastes. Check it out if you're looking for a unique and fast way to get to your apps from anywhere in Android.

I'm still obsessed with Z Launcher. Nothing gets you to everything on your phone faster than it.

Ruperto17

Thanks for the tip. I'm always looking for new launchers but I usually end up going back to Nova. Giving this a try..looks very interesting.

Josh Matthews

np, I think they did an article on it when it came out a couple weeks ago or whatever. Nokia actually made something pretty cool I think

Andrew

This app gets my "app of the month' award.

abobobilly

We rarely get such 'wow-factor' apps which actually work. So i pretty much agree with you there.

paxmos

Could you explain what the "wow-factor" of this app is please?

abobobilly

The gif posted above is enough to explain it.

paxmos

It does not. It needs xposed for opening app in floating window, needs to be installed via adb..and does not give anything that other launchers are already offering. What does this offer that a shortcut/widget/favorite folder cannot provide? and search option is not a universal search either.

Joris Griffioen

"needs to be installed via adb"? Wut? No, I just installed it from the play store.

"It needs xposed for opening app in floating window" ... what do you even mean? Are other apps able to open apps in a floating window? Not AFAIK.

paxmos

Read the description in Play Store!!

Joris Griffioen

I did. Now you go back and read it again. Read where the [1] indicates that it should be installed via ADB for developer options like showing package names.

Homer J. Simpson

Wow, you can't read.

Tay

Check out "swipeup utility". I think its much better as it allows you to have a single app open up, or choose a couple of apps and tasks to show up in a "mini app drawer"

paxmos

I hope you are kidding!!..."app of the month"?

Fitzelgard Allan Gerard

I thought I was watching some japanese AV or net was slow, that wallpaper tho.

abobobilly

I am pretty sure its going to get removed, either because of messing with Google's "Google Now" swipe (on Google Launcher (and possible nexus phones), or maybe some other thing.

Its a far fetched though, but i sure hope it doesn't happen because i love this app.

someone755

Many other apps also offer the option of adding this to the ring (or rather, replacing Google Now). Ones I've come across are Greenify and Opera, and they've been there for quite some time now.

Mark Jackson

My favorite is to launch a Tasker Task that simply opens the camera. Quick access to the camera when you need it, regardless of what you're doing on your phone.

Definitely not going to get removed. I have like 5 other apps that add an option to override that menu. The key is due to how Android works, it's an opt-in, always.

Joris Griffioen

The swipe up is simply a "search" intent that any app can hook into. There are many that do.
This is why people that say Android is a closed system should shut up and go home. Google chose to create an open system and hook into it properly, allowing complete replacement of their functionality if you've found something else.

Hell, Microsoft should hook Cortana into that and I'd be surprised if they didn't.

Cons -
1. Almost full screen window; compared to non-intrusive small overlay of AppDialer
2. If you want to search for a contact; you type the name and then tap People icon which takes you to the People app where you see the contact. In AppDialer, the contact shows up just like any app in the AppDialer overlay window itself.
3. That doesn't even work on Lollipop; since People is discontinued in Lollipop and replaced by "Contacts" app.
4. App is overall slower to launch than AppDialer.

Doesn't it support the normal Android keyboard, too? I really don't get why I should use T9 when I can write whole essays with the normal keyboard. And I nearly never call a phone by entering the raw telephone number.

Use case of these apps is - quickly switching from one app to another. A small overlay with T9 pad is the best way to do that. If you add full keyboard to it, it becomes too messy. First you open the switcher app which takes 2-3 seconds and then the keyboard takes 2-3 seconds. Instead, AppDialer opens almost instantly.

To find the contact, you don't type the number. You type the contacts' name and it fetches the contact from your address book.

ebtokyo

Current version is 0.7, more to come until version 1.0

ebtokyo

I am not sure contact search is broken on Lollipop, I tested the app on both KitKat and Lollipop, even if the app name has changed, the package id remain the same, search works on both. Or am I missing something ?

On Lollipop, it is not giving me any option to search inside contacts. Whereas, in KitKat, it is giving me option to search inside People. Moreover, T9 doesn't work in either version; i.e. if I type using the T9 pad, it searches only for apps. If I want to search for contacts or anything non-app, I have to use the full keyboard.

ebtokyo

Weird, what is the package id of your contacts app on Lollipop ? I have 'com.android.contacts' and it works

For searching contacts directly from app swap is in the backlog. It will come later. For now it launch search in the Contacts/People app.

is there any app where you could set to open a specific app when doing the swipe up?

Joris Griffioen

Tasker would do it.

Vizair

Now this is way better swipe-up action than yet another shortcut to Google Now.

Max, el Slowpoke

The Kitkat screenshots show a Nexus 5... with Motorola's customisation.

ebtokyo

Nice observation ;) ... Android Studio do not have screenshot framing for Moto X, Nexus 5 is nicer that the generic one.

D&K

I use swipepad, works well and quick

letsplaay

I've been using it for a while now, and I like it except there is often about 3 seconds of lag before the app launches. Am I the only one that experiences that?

D&K

I have that when I launch from the homescreen, but if I launch from within another app its instant usually. I wonder if there's anything better out there?

Swaglord

AppDialer does it better :P

John Mak

Thank you Swap, a great App that I discovered at the beginning of its launch, I adopted by following , a developer that astonishes us every update with new convenient features, Swap continue you have before you a great future, congratulations.

primalxconvoy

Please tell me that your phone's auto-correct got in the way and you just forgot to check what lovely sentences it just butchered, because I had real trouble understanding what you just wrote.

IncCo

Its nice, but i still prefer swipe pad

primalxconvoy

I just use custom folders in the app drawer, which is available in GO Launcher. I also use "Notification Toggle" to put important or popular apps in my notification drawer (which is even more useful when the phone is docked to a monitor).

Eisenhorn1976

I actually donated during the Beta phase but I don't have it installed on any of my devices anymore. I wasn't exactly happy with the Dev because he didn't seem receptive to supporting paid-for icon packs even though it seemed that his software could support it. For example, Durgon, which is a paid-for pack, came out as being usable by App Swap despite the Dev's assertion that he only supported free packs. I even emailed the Dev to let him know about it.

Frankly, you can get similar (maybe even better) functionality by assigning Nova's app search to a swipe gesture (I use Swipe Up) and just search for the app rather than scrolling through App Swap since just typing in the first letter in Nova app search brings up all apps of that name.